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Arms Ordered Off Kabul Streets, U.N. to Vote on Multinational Force
KABUL, Dec. 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Afghanistan's new rulers ordered unauthorized weapons off the streets of the capital, Kabul, on Thursday and fighters back to barracks ahead of the historic inauguration this weekend of a United Nations-backed six-month interim government, news agencies reported.
Meanwhile, diplomats at the United Nations in New York said that the last obstacles to the creation of a multinational security force for war-ravaged Afghanistan had been removed and the 15-member U.N. Security Council would adopt a resolution authorizing the force by early Friday at the latest, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Meanwhile, military operations continued against Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, as Pakistani forces hunted Arab fighters who made it across the border and U.S.-backed Afghan militiamen searched abandoned cave complexes.
U.S. warplanes flew reconnaissance missions over al-Qaeda's former stronghold in Tora Bora, eastern Afghanistan, and intelligence officials interrogated captured fighters, but there was still no news of bin Laden's whereabouts.
The ban on gun-toting civilians in Kabul was part of security measures being implemented ahead of the inauguration on Saturday of the interim government led by Pashtun royalist Hamid Karzai.
"The security commission has approved an order that no armed persons can walk on the streets and that they should go back to barracks," defense ministry official Doctor Gulbuddin told AFP.
Only fighters from the Kabul garrison, police from the interior ministry and secret police from the intelligence services would be allowed to carry weapons, he said.
Fighters brandishing rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers and other weaponry have flooded the streets since the Taliban regime fled the capital on the night of November 12, often threatening passers-by.
Security has become a pressing concern there and war-weary residents on Thursday cheered news of a breakthrough on the deployment of a British-led international security force, reported AFP.
The incoming interim government agreed to let a 3,000-strong security force into the country but only for six months, when the mandate of the interim administration expires. The British defense ministry subsequently said the number could be as high as 5,000 peacekeepers. The remaining troops will not begin to deploy before December 28.
In a related development, the United Nations finalized a resolution authorizing the deployment of a multi-national peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, reported BBC's online service.
The British-led force would be given a mandate for six months and its main task would be to maintain security in the capital, Kabul, and surrounding area.
The draft resolution authorizes troop-contributing nations to use force where necessary. A vote by the 15-member Security Council is expected Thursday or Friday.
Once it is approved, the first contingent of about 100 British marines could be in place on Saturday, to coincide with the swearing-in of the new interim administration, BBC reported Thursday.
There has been difficulty in reaching an agreement as to how long the force should stay in Afghanistan and what its relationship should be with the U.S.-led military campaign in the country.
All the major sticking points, which held up a vote on the issue for days, have now been resolved.
In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that British troops were prepared to serve as the lead nation for a period of around three months, after which they would hand over to another country.
Straw also said the U.S. Central Command would have control if the two operations overlapped, "to ensure that International Security Assistance Force [ISAF] activities do not interfere with the successful completion of Operation Enduring Freedom."
The resolution also calls on the Northern Alliance to withdraw its troops from Kabul, in accordance with the agreement reached last month at a multi-ethnic conference in Bonn, Germany.
Karzai, meanwhile, said he hoped the new force would not stay longer than is planned.
He said the international force should leave "as soon as we have the protection of our borders, of our country and a government chosen by the Afghan people."
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